


After Rumble Ramble

by tulsaokgreasers



Category: The Outsiders - S. E. Hinton
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-15 23:00:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29072184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tulsaokgreasers/pseuds/tulsaokgreasers
Summary: Darry's thoughts post rumble.
Kudos: 5





	After Rumble Ramble

I was sitting on the couch, tending to the bite wound some soc gave me. I chuckled softly to myself, I could still see his face when my fist collided with it, despite his teeth sinking into my skin. I would never admit it to my brothers, especially Ponyboy, but I loved to fight. the adrenaline, the superiority, the face of regret when the person sees it’s me, they have to fight. it made all those days of going to the gym even when I wanted to keel over dead after work so worth it. The boys were pretty quiet, a cartoon playing on the tv. Steve got roughed up the worst as far as I could see. I was worried Ponyboy wasn’t with us, but Tim Shepard said he had left with Dally. I don’t know if that’s more comforting or concerning, but I figured it was to see Johnny, tell him we won. I sat back in my chair thinking about it. We won, but that didn’t change the fact Paul is in college and I’m not, that he plays football and probably wears nice polos to golf clubs. I won boy of the year, I won that athletic scholarship, but here I was. working 80 hours a week, sometimes more, and barely making ends meet. I deserved all the opportunities Paul was just handed, so I guess, no. We didn’t win. I’m still a greaser, a man with only a high school diploma and tool belt to his name, not to mention the guardian, role model, and brother to my younger brothers. And a terrible one at that, Soda was a high school dropout and Ponyboy was involved in a murder scandal. All of a sudden, I was frowning, my tongue going over a cut where my teeth had cut it from a good hit to the face from Paul. We didn’t win tonight, I didn’t at least. I still have to worry about court, and... what the hell is taking Ponyboy so long to get home? I sighed, wishing I was less frigid and more comforting, like Soda. I wish life hadn’t hardened me like it had. Like identifying Ma and Dad’s bodies, I cried, but after that it seemed like nothing could get worse than seeing them like that. Even at the funeral my tears had been dried up. I bet Paul will never have to do that to his parents, they’ll die in some nice country club/nursing home and have the nurses take care of stuff like that. I bet Paul will never have to worry about money in his life, or whether his brothers are running late from traffic or dead in a ditch, whether the state takes away everything he loves. Stupid fucking Paul, my best friend turned worst enemy. Everything I want to be embodied into him and everything I am his worst nightmare. Just goes to show that winning means nothing, winning every fight, every argument, makes you me, Darrel Curtis. the sorest winner the world has ever seen. I hear the door open, a horribly put together Ponyboy walking in and every intrusive thought intensified. you should have found him and made him come home straight away. 

“Ponyboy...” I say softly, talking to him as though he were fragile as I got up from my armchair. I never am prepared for the future or what happens next, maybe for the best, sometimes you live through things much too scary to think about.


End file.
